McComas to chair the State Ports Authority board

By Patrick GannonPatrick.Gannon@StarNewsOnline.com

Wednesday

Aug 29, 2012 at 2:12 PM

Perdue appointment crosses party line

Gov. Beverly Perdue said Wednesday she is appointing state Rep. Danny McComas chairman of the N.C. State Ports Authority Board of Directors.McComas, a New Hanover County Republican who has served 18 years in the state House, is expected to resign from the Legislature effective Sunday and assume the new position Monday. Earlier this year, McComas announced he wouldn't run for re-election, so his legislative duties were largely complete.The 11-member Ports Authority board oversees operations at the ports of Wilmington and Morehead City, as well as inland terminals in Charlotte and Greensboro and a marina in Southport.McComas will finish the term of former board Chairman Carl Stewart Jr., a Gastonia attorney who recently resigned from the post. Stewart's term was set to expire in 2016. It's an unpaid position, but the chairman is eligible for reimbursement of expenses and per diem pay when traveling on port business.The appointment comes during a time of change at the Wilmington-based Ports Authority. Last week, Tom Bradshaw, a former mayor of Raleigh and former transportation secretary, was named authority executive director. And the state recently released the N.C. Maritime Strategy study, a $2 million assessment that state officials hope to use as road map for improving the ports.McComas, 59, said in a phone interview Wednesday that the post is a way for him to continue public service. He has high hopes for the Ports Authority. "I want to put the ports both in Morehead and Wilmington on the radar screen and give the ports the attention they have not had in many years," McComas said.He said other ports on the East Coast are growing more rapidly than North Carolina's facilities."We want to jump on the train. We want to be part of the global economy," McComas said. "We want to be a major contributor to the economic development of North Carolina."Unlike his predecessor Stewart, who advocated for the construction of a new international terminal in Brunswick County, McComas said a new deepwater port is "not on my radar screen.""I don't see that going anywhere in the foreseeable future," McComas said Wednesday.Perdue said in a prepared statement that the ports are critical to the state economy and that the McComas appointment demonstrated her commitment to the authority's future. In a somewhat unusual – although not unprecedented – step, the Democrat Perdue tapped a Republican for an appointment to a leadership position."I want the best person in the job, no matter what side of the aisle he or she sits on," Perdue said.McComas owns a Wilmington-based trucking company, MCO Transport, which has contracts with shipping lines that use the state ports. As is customary for such appointments, the State Ethics Commission reviewed McComas' personal financial interests, as disclosed on a Statement of Economic Interest he was required to file. The commission found the potential for a conflict of interest because MCO Transport is a service provider with the authority and because McComas owns "interest in multiple limited liability corporations which could seek to conduct business with the authority," according to a letter from the Ethics Commission released by the governor's office.McComas, according to the letter, "should exercise appropriate caution should any entity in which he has a financial interest come before the Authority for official action or otherwise seek to conduct business with the Authority. This would include recusing himself to the extent that these interests would influence or could reasonably appear to influence his actions."Chris Mackey, a Perdue spokeswoman, said that was a "very routine finding" in appointments."The governor expects and believes that if any issue were to arise, Mr. McComas will handle it appropriately," Mackey wrote in an email. "By the way, the governor believes that the Ports Authority needs members that know transportation."McComas said that his business doesn't deal directly with the Ports Authority, but with shipping companies, and that he doesn't envision any conflicts."If there is, then I'm going to have to recuse myself," he said.McComas has been chairman of the House Commerce and Job Development Committee for the past two years. He was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and earned a bachelor of science degree from St. Bonaventure University in New York. He lives in Wilmington with his wife, Betty.House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, released a statement immediately after the governor's announcement, calling McComas an "effective businessman and a tireless public servant" who advocated for the ports and film industry as a lawmaker.Tillis said he was confident that McComas would "use his business-like approach and knowledge of the port system to better the infrastructure needs of our state."Phil Marion, senior vice president at BB&T in Wilmington, also was quoted in the governor's news release, giving McComas a positive nod from the business community."Daniel McComas knows the ports, he knows transportation and he knows how government works," Marion said. "The port doesn't need to start over, it simply needs to build on what is good." It wasn't known Wednesday who will replace McComas in House District 19 through the November elections.Republican Ted Davis Jr. and Democrat Emilie Swearingen are vying for the seat in November.

Patrick Gannon: (919) 854-6115On Twitter: @StarNewsPat

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